It was already three in the morning and the entire gymnasium hallway was quiet. Everyone had laid out their sleeping mats and were now peacefully asleep.
Dave woke up from his deep slumber, feeling an intense headache and pain all over his body. Gasping for breath, he felt like he had run a long distance. Slowly, he got up and stumbled towards the bathroom. He knew what was happening to him and wanted to isolate himself to avoid hurting others.
Upon reaching the bathroom, he quickly entered a cubicle and closed the door. The pain he was feeling intensified. His bones were aching, and the pain was coursing through every part of his body.
"Mama, I need to pee," his child tugged at his mother due to the pain in her stomach.
His mother woke up and offered her hand to her child. Quietly and cautiously, they made their way to the bathroom, fearing they might wake others up.
The mother guided her child to the far end of the cubicle and faced the mirror. She heard a faint noise coming from the other end of the cubicle near the women's restroom door. She also noticed blood on the door. Out of curiosity, she walked towards it to see if anyone was inside.
"Hello. Is anyone there?" She softly knocked on the door, hesitant to knock too loudly and potentially open it.
She only heard a faint and strange groan from inside the cubicle.
"Mommy, who are you talking with?" Darlene, her child, asked, now standing in front of the cubicle door, adjusting her clothes.
"Faster, baby," she smiled at her child and slowly opened the cubicle door in front of her.
She almost screamed when she saw Dave, looking completely different from the man they knew. He looked terrible and smelled awful. She screamed when she suddenly felt something bite her neck, causing her to collapse to the ground.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Everyone immediately woke up at the loud and piercing scream. A familiar scream filled with fear and pain.
"Not again?" Michael exclaimed in frustration, holding his twin brother's hand, who was also now standing beside him.
Yuki quickly lifted Zebby and handed her to Deiji, who was fully alert after hearing the terrifying scream. Yuki put all of the child's belongings in the small bag Deiji had brought last night. She knew what was happening and couldn't bear to let the child go hungry again, so she prioritized taking care of her as long as there was time.
"Stay here," Glenn reminded them before leaving to join the men gathered near the women's restroom. It was closed, so they didn't know what was happening inside, and no one dared to open it out of fear.
He approached the door and took a deep breath. When he felt ready, he slowly opened it.
Everyone was startled when they saw a woman lying in front of the door. She was bleeding and unconscious. But their emotions exploded even more when they saw Dave at the far end of the cubicle, looking completely different and devouring Darlene, who was now lying unconscious with her eyes open.
Everyone screamed and ran in fear that they might be next. With a heavy heart, Glenn turned around and ran towards his companions.
"What is it?" Deiji asked Glenn. Glenn couldn't answer because he couldn't get Darlene's image out of his mind. 'She's too young,' Glenn thought to himself.
Everyone was shocked when Roy suddenly came running towards the people trying to get out of the gymnasium. He was followed by Darlene's mother, who calmly walked towards the crowd. Yuki, Michael, and Michelle cried when they saw Darlene also coming out of the restroom, but she was in a different shape.
"Let's go," Glenn urged them, as more and more people were getting infected inside the gymnasium, and the risk to their lives was increasing.
They descended using the stairs they used to go up yesterday. Michael went down first, followed by Michelle. Deiji went down with Zebby. She put Zebby inside a bag with her head outside. She did it so it wouldn't be hard to carry her. Yuki followed her, while Glenn was the last one to go down.
They were about to jump back inside the walls of De Vilasarza when they saw someone coming down using the stairs they had just used. It was Roy.
"What the hell, dude? You startled us!" Michael shouted at him, but Roy ignored him.
"I wanna join you, guys," Roy shyly asked permission from them.
They had no choice but to let Roy join them because they knew he was alone.
They quietly descended again, being careful not to be noticed by the few zombies around. They were surprised when people suddenly emerged from the building they had just left. They recognized them as their companions upstairs, and in their fear, they didn't realize that there were zombies roaming outside the building. Almost all the zombies near that area ran towards them. Yuki held her breath, afraid of what might happen next. Glenn held Deiji, who was holding Zebby and was fully awake by then.
Glenn led the way while Deiji and Zebby were in front of him. Yuki and the twins were behind them, and Roy was at the back. Glenn signaled 'shh' to them and walked quietly. They passed behind the zombies, who were now busy feasting on people who had just emerged.
They were saddened by the lives wasted, but they needed to save themselves.
They all breathed a sigh of relief when they passed the throngs of zombies. But they were shocked when Zebby suddenly screamed and laughed. They stopped and slowly turned to see the zombies behind them, who were now looking at them.
"Run!" Glenn shouted at them and ran faster, leading the others. He was thinking about where it would be safer to turn and go because there were also zombies scattered on every street.
Everyone was exhausted, but they couldn't stop as they were desperate to survive. Out of nowhere, a guy showed up in front of them.
"Here!" The guy shouted in panic, not far from their age gap.
Out of desperation, they followed the guy and ran again. The guy suddenly slid down into a large box-shaped hole, just big enough for one person to fit. Deiji ran faster, as she always did, and slid down copying the guy they followed while holding Zebby in front of her. Her buttocks hit the soft 6 inches of foam first. The guy helped her stand as the others followed. Michelle was next, followed by Michael and Yuki. Glenn slid down before Roy. When they were all safe, the guy closed the window, which turned out to be the window of a basement.
"Let's go upstairs," the guy suggested, as all his companions were there.
Deiji was shocked to see a familiar face among them.
"Noah..."